I ceased the moment of passion, my breathing scattered as the force of my touch shoved the material into her swollen folds. “You’re wet for me, sweet angel.”

  “I’m not your angel.” Her words were little more than scattered whispers, her lower lip quivering.

  Every inch of me was on fire, stimulated by the lurid and filthy experience. She had no idea what she was doing to me. I pressed my face against hers as I slipped my fingers past the thin elastic of her panties, finding her sweet wetness.

  “You are every bit my angel.” The second I slipped my fingers inside, she moaned again, the sound more like a ferocious purr.

  “Fuck you.”

  “There’s the fire I’ve come to adore. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen.” I thrust my fingers in deep and hard, flexing them open. As I dragged my tongue down her cheek with a series of growls, she shuddered from my touch. I brushed my lips across her jaw before nipping her lower lip as I rolled my thumb across her clit.

  “I don’t want you.”

  “Your body seems to suggest otherwise.”

  A strangled laugh pulsed from her lips as she narrowed her eyes, taking scattered breaths. “You’re such a bastard.”

  “Absolutely.” There was something so dirty about taking her in the bathroom of a tiny coffee shop, the thought of ravaging her almost like an addiction that I couldn’t satiate. I continued driving into her very core, delighted in the way her clit swelled, her body swaying as much as my capturing grasp would allow. “You hunger exactly as I do, the need burning so deep within you that your mind is tattered at the thought.”

  “No. No, I…” She closed her eyes, licking her lips as her body undulated, only this time she wasn’t attempted to break free.

  When I wrapped my fingers around her panties, snapping my wrist, she gasped. Then I immediately shoved several fingers inside, the force of my actions shoving her against the wall.

  “Yes. Tell me to fuck you, Willow. Tell me.”

  She shook her head slowly as she tried to catch her breath. Her skin glowed in the harsh lighting, a shimmer dancing across her skin. “Oh. Oh…” she whimpered. So guttural. So animalistic.

  I followed suit with a savage sound of my own as I drove into her. Harder. Faster. The second I curled the tips of my fingers, her eyes flew open wide.

  “Tell me, Willow. Tell me exactly what you want.” I could tell I was bringing her close to an orgasm, the warm flush creeping up along her cheeks so damn beautiful.

  She bucked hard against my hand, twisting her body in a sensual rhythm. As her pussy muscles clenched and released, pulling my fingers in even deeper, I refused to stop. I became a crazed man, pumping brutally, daring her to defy me.

  “Yes. Yes…” She blinked several times, her body tensing.

  “Tell. Me.” My command was not to be denied.

  The sweet release of a climax roared into her system and while she did everything that she could to curtail a scream, the lovely roar echoed in the dense space. Her pussy clamped down tightly around the invasion, her entire body trembling in my hold. As a single orgasm turned into another, she half laughed, tossing her head back and forth.

  “Fuck me,” she managed, her lust-filled tone rocking my entire world.

  “Louder, angel. I want to hear you say it. I need to know you feel exactly the way I do, so damn hungry that you’ll do anything to have it sated. Are you ready for that burning thirst to be quenched, to finally have the sweet release of passion?” I switched the angle, continuing to thrust in deep, rough plunges, my fingers slickened from her sweet juice.

  “Mmm…”

  “Again, angel. Again!”

  “Yes. Yes… Fuck me. Please fuck me.”

  The lights seemed to dim around me after she said the words, my vision captured by her twisting mouth and the hammering beat of her heart. I jerked at my buckle and zipper, freeing my cock within seconds. After dragging her leg around my thigh, I drove the entire length of my cock into her tight channel.

  Willow bit her lip as she stared at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her eyes were glassy, the shimmer riding her porcelain skin even more pronounced. I could ravage her for hours, taking her time and time again.

  I pulled almost all the way out, thrusting in hard and fast, the force slamming her against the wall. “So wet. So tight,” I half whispered, the tone dripping with the savage lust that had refused to be denied. The scent of her sex was intoxicating, dragging me to the brink of madness.

  When I rolled onto the balls of my feet, the leverage shoving her body up several inches, she threw her other leg around me. Everything became an incredible blur as I continued fucking her, my cock filling her completely. I could go on for hours and soon, I would do exactly that. I had no doubt.

  Because she was mine. All freaking mine.

  The cold, hard fucking was merely foreplay.

  I should feel guilty for taking her, allow my conscience to have a say in anything I did with her, but I’d given up on that thought. That’s what she did to me with a single smile, a wisp of her finger through her long curls, and a brazen attitude that begged to be broken.

  Seconds later, I sensed she was close to coming again. My body stiffened as I did everything I could to hold back. “Come for me, my little angel. Come on my cock.”

  She tipped her head forward until it bobbed on my shoulder. Her muscles tightened around my shaft, her fingernails able to dig into my hand.

  “Yes, I… Yes. Yes. Yes!” This time, there was no holding back her scream of ecstasy.

  The second I erupted, filling her with my seed, I threw my head back and roared. As she clung to me, her body trembling in my hold, I made certain she understood the consequences of lying to me.

  “I care for you, sweet angel, perhaps more than I should, but if you are lying to me, I will punish you. And I will be brutal.”

  The game of cat and mouse continued.

  I’d been prepared to play a game or two with my enemies. My brothers and I had become damn good at forecasting when to expect trouble then beating the odds. What I’d never been forced to do was play games with a woman.

  As beguiling as she was, Willow’s constant push and pull was starting to become unnerving. Her last words as she’d stormed out of the coffee shop?

  “Don’t try and contact me again. This toxic thing we’ve shared can’t continue to happen. I’ll make certain Baxter finds a good family, one that will care for him. Have a happy but very lonely life.”

  I’d actually watched her walk away with her head held high and hadn’t bothered to go after her. Yet it had been as if she’d thrown a hard punch to the kidney, nearly gutting me. I wanted her more now than ever. I paced the floor in my office, the drink in my hand unconsumed for almost an hour. Liquor wasn’t going to soothe my nerves or solve the puzzles the Dunmore boys had swirling around them.

  The entire situation felt like a noose being tightened a little more every day.

  What I was beginning to believe was that she was a master chess player, pretending as if she couldn’t stand me then allowing me to fuck her.

  Had she scampered off to Aleksandr in order to give him an update?

  I’d fumed from the thought, ignoring phone calls and other aspects of business, remaining holed up in my office at the club. Maybe her words had stung more than I’d realized, her pontification about loneliness something I’d never been forced to think about.

  Until now.

  I lived in a five-thousand-square-foot home with a freaking swimming pool and cabana and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d set foot in the majority of rooms or even taken a swim. As with my brothers, the purchase had been more about maintaining a status symbol. We certainly couldn’t appear to our members as if we lived like paupers. Our wealth was another method of holding onto the extreme level of power my grandfather had started all those decades before, my father fine-tuning his influential and dangerous hold. But in my mind, perhaps flaunting the wealth had been a huge mistake.

  Money also made us more vulnerable, our potential fall from grace brutal in every aspect. That’s what the inner circle wanted, to watch as we tumbled off our thrones. So far, they hadn’t been able to pick us off one at a time. My gut had been churning for hours. Whatever was going on just under the surface was the end game. I’d bet my entire fortune on it.

  As I rubbed my brow, the ache behind my eyes seemed to get worse. I wasn’t just tense. I was ready for blood, enjoying the possibility of an upcoming war. What the hell was wrong with me? Willow was right to want to stay far away. Even if she’d had nothing to do with Aleksandr and wasn’t a part of the takedown occurring behind the scenes, just her association with me would leave her hurting even more than she obviously was.

  Haunted eyes.

  Determined actions.

  Fierce love.

  That’s the way I’d describe her.

  And I craved every single aspect, my intentions even more sadistic than before.

  But there was an awakening in my heart that I could no longer deny.

  I finally took a swig of my drink, the slight burn surprising. Maybe I was losing a taste for hard liquor. When my phone rang again, I swore under my breath before yanking it from my pocket. I wasn’t certain whether to be angry or pleased seeing the identification of the caller.

  “You better have something, Luis.” The harshness in my tone was only the beginning if the asshole didn’t provide something useful.

  “I told you things are shit right now,” he responded, keeping his voice low.

  “As if I care. What do you have?”

  He sniffed and I heard what sounded like a door being closed. “Look, man. I’m gonna get crucified if old Don Gasini knows I’m telling you shit.”

  I held the glass in front of my face, swirling the liquid in the light, my fury reaching another boiling point. Being unable to control a situation was not something I was used to. “Talk.”

  “Okay. Okay. Don Gasini found out that Prentikov is in town for three more hits.”

  “So the senator was his first.” Three. The number couldn’t be a coincidence. Was Aleksandr planning on assassinating all three of the Dunmore brothers? That was a distinct possibility.

  Luis snorted. “Yeah, a slice and dice routine. The press didn’t mention all the gory details.”

  “I heard about it.” I had my sources. The senator had been alone in his house when the murder had occurred. From what I’d learned, his wife remained sedated after finding his body.

  “The knife work was Prentikov’s calling card.”

  I took a sip, this time enjoying the flavor. “Who are his intended victims?”

  “Unknown and I’m telling you the truth, man. The rumor on the street is that Prentikov is paving the way for the Morelli family to move in from New York. They’ve had a beef with the Gasinis for a long time. Trust me that Gasini has sent a couple of his Capos to find the Russian.”

  And my guess is that they wouldn’t find him. What little I’d learned about Aleksandr was that he had an innate ability to stay well under the radar until it was time for him to perform his skilled work. Whatever the case, I didn’t like what I was hearing. “And Prentikov’s weakness?” Everyone had one.

  “Other than expensive vodka? Nothing recent. The man lives like a ghost,” Luis stated, although I could hear a slight glitch in his voice. There was more information than he wanted to tell me.

  “What about his past?”

  When Luis hesitated this time, I knew what the fucker was after. “How much is it going to cost?”

  “For you? Five thousand. I have expenses.”

  I would toss the asshole into the trash, but his information had always proven to be useful. “Fine, Luis, but whatever you have to tell had better be worth this extortion.”

  “Hey. I’ve been good to you.”

  “Cut the crap and tell me about the Russian’s past.”

  He had the audacity to chuckle, as if I was in the mood for bantering. “He was obsessed with some chick years ago. He made some mistakes, letting his guard down. I guess the girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessed a murder. The girl disappeared after that. That’s when the dude became a real monster. Some said he was tortured by the Morellis after the debacle for two solid weeks as punishment.”

  “Any details about the girl?”

  “Not much to go on. Some dancer out of New York.”

  Dancer.

  My hackles were raised once again.

  “Dancer. Stripper?” I demanded, every nerve standing on end.

  “No, man. You’re gonna laugh. She was some freaking prima ballerina. Can you imagine?”

  While I knew the man was laughing, I’d already slammed the glass on my desk, walking around to the other side and touching the pad on my laptop. “How many years ago?”

  “I don’t know. Six. Seven. What does it matter? She’s dead. The Russian never leaves witnesses.”

  Unless he’d been obsessed with her, even in love. Love could be a powerful weakness. The fact she was alive wouldn’t bode well for Aleksandr’s relationship with the Morellis. As I’d always known. Everyone had something to hide.

  “Where is the Russian?”

  “How the fuck would I know?” Luis said in a way that told me he was lying.

  “Because that’s what your assignment was for Don Gasini, to find the Russian. Where is he?”

  He hesitated, huffing and puffing into the phone. “You better not touch him. That’s Don Gasini’s privilege.”

  “Don’t worry. Murder isn’t in the club’s best interest.” Unless the man decided to fuck with our family or with Willow. “Tell me.”

  “You don’t really think he’s staying at some shit hole, do you? The bastard had the nerve to check into the Ritz Carlton, along with several of his soldiers of course. No way to get to him there and believe me, I’ve tried.”

  “That’s all I need to know. I appreciate your call, but as always, you don’t know me.”

  “Don’t worry, dude. I enjoy living. I’m laying low for a while under this shit blows over. Good luck dealing with Club Darkness,” Luis stated then ended the call.

  Why did I have the distinct feeling his words were a clear warning?

  Karma.

  The actual definition always bothered me, although I’d chosen never to believe in the idea. Yet the notion that the sum of a person’s actions would cause their fate in the future certainly had its place in the mafia world. Perhaps in the one my father had created as well. Maybe karma was prepared to take her revenge on the Russian. Hmmm… I could simply give the Gasinis a hand in finishing the deed.

  Hell, what fun would that be?

  First, I needed my questions answered and Aleksandr appeared to be a man who could bring my brothers and me closer to finding the inner circle. Then I’d make certain he was fed to the Gasinis on a silver platter.

  Tossing the phone, I shifted to the internet, searching for ballet companies in New York. New York City Ballet issued almost no information on any of their past dancers.

  However, American Ballet Theatre provided pictures of various performances from the past. I knew shit about ballet, had never been to an actual classical performance, but the culture didn’t seem any different than what I was used to dealing with. Those who had the ability to dance held a certain amount of power. As I searched through several years, only one photograph held any resemblance to Willow.

  However, the information was far too coincidental not to follow up on.

  I pushed back from the desk, jerking to a halt. Willow and I were going to have a frank conversation. This time, I wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  I stormed into the shelter, instantly scanning the reception area. There were two young women inside, both apprehensive the moment I entered.

  “Can I help you?” one of them asked.

  “I’m here to see Willow Summers.”

  There must have been something ominous in my voice, the girl immediately paling as she turned to look at the other girl.

  “Um, she’s actually not here,” the second girl managed after a few seconds. “Would you like to leave a message for her?”

  I inched closer until I was leaning over the counter, trying to offer a smile. “Actually, I’d like her address.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but our policies clearly state that I can’t give you any personal information. Why don’t you call her?”

  A change in my tactics was needed.

  “The truth is that I want to surprise her,” I said blandly as the arrival of another young woman from the back caught my attention. “Jennifer.”

  Jennifer’s mouth twisted, her eyes opening wide. She was surprised I’d remembered her name. “You’re… Mr. Dunmore. You brought in Baxter.” As she inched closer, a tentative smile crossed her face. The brusque words Willow had issued had obviously raised a red flag.

  “I am, and in truth, I want to talk to Willow about possibly adopting him. Baxter. Willow told me you named him. I think it’s fitting.”

  Relief flooding her face, she edged to the counter. “I’m glad to hear you say that. The pup isn’t doing very well. As a matter of fact, Willow took the day off out of the blue to spend some time with him. The poor little guy won’t eat and barely drinks any water. I can start the paperwork for the adoption if you’d like. I just need to ask you a few questions about where you live and how you’re going to care for him. We take adoptions very seriously.”

  She babbled on, obviously still nervous.

  I leaned over, allowing my gaze to fall from her very pretty face to her long neck then back to her eyes. “I’ve never had a dog before. I wanted to spend some time with him to make certain I know what I’d be getting into. I don’t think Willow would mind if you gave me her address. I actually owe her an apology, probably more than one for my ridiculous behavior. Our coffee date didn’t go very well this morning and that was entirely my fault.”